1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to crop clearing mechanisms and apparatus and is more particularly directed to a mechanism for displacing actively growing vegetation from the path of the wheel of a tractor that is moving through a crop bed. The purpose of my invention is to increase the yield of a crop through the use of an effective and facile mechanism to displace a growing crop away from the wheels of a tractor that may be driven through a field so as to preserve the growing crop by preventing destruction of the crop by the passage of the wheels of a tractor through the beds of the field.
2. Prior Art
The following prior art was noted in the course of a preliminary search based upon the disclosure of this application:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventor Issued ______________________________________ 888,348 Nichols 5/19/08 2,210,219 Sievers 8/6/40 2,645,503 Johnson 7/14/53 3,214,894 Whitman 11/2/65 3,526,055 Cortopassi 9/1/70 3,739,858 Spell 6/19/73 4,062,305 Stoker 12/13/77 ______________________________________
Of the above patents, the Johnson U.S. Pat. No. 2,645,503 for TRACTOR WHEEL GUARD is directed to an early, elementary device for displacing growing vegetation from the path of a tractor wheel as the tractor is moved through a field. As may be appreciated from a consideration of the disclosure of the Johnson patent, the mechanism is primarily directed to an operation which permits deflection of the wheel guard by the vegetation, which renders the apparatus substantially ineffective.
Another of the prior art patents presently known to me is the Cortopassi Pat. No. 3,526,055, issued Sept. 1, 1970 for ROW CROP VINE LIFTER. The Cortopassi patent is directed toward displacing vegetation from a furrow, as distinguished from a bed in a crop field, and requires earth contacting rotary cylinders in combination with baffle plates and deflector wings, which may present only a partial solution to the crop conservation conundrum created by the cultivation requirements of a growing crop.